I’ve been more and more curious about other people’s lives. Of what it means to be a school cook, a flight attendant, a jewelry store salesperson. How does the world look through their eyes?

I’ve also been reading too much academic writing, and even though I’m learning (l love learning), there’s nothing beautiful to this type of writing (I’m sure that there are exceptions to this). When I think about my reading preferences, the reason why I am an avid reader is because I was able to make a home out of the books I read.

To make a home you need emotions, but after I read a chapter from an academic textbook, I feel like the authors only showed up to hand me the materials for me to build a home and to leave me to my own devices.

Going back to this curiosity of wanting to experience life through someone else’s point of view makes me think of my love of reading.This might be the reason why I love reading memoirs and diaries. I love how writers can share the grandest truths through the simplest and sometimes, too, the humblest experiences. When taking out the trash, an uneventful Tuesday, or a stranger become the foundations of an epiphany.

I have seen the world through their eyes—in some ways.

I conclude that I am more similar than different to the school cook, flight attendant, and jewelry store salesperson than I thought I was, and that I have seen the world through their eyes—in some ways. For the most part, we end up learning the same truth or wisdom despite our different life experiences. We find in them the same or a similar beauty. Our experiences can make us feel the same or a similar sadness, happiness, and triumphs.

Of the school cook, I like thinking that she looks forward texting a special someone during lunch. Of the flight attendant, I like thinking that she overcame her fear of heights. Of the jewelry store salesperson, I like thinking that she finds her job meaningless but has a meaningful aspiration. In the end, I find myself surrounded by people, people who I’ll never care about deeply, on a daily basis. When our paths cross, like everyone else, I take in the world in all of its colors, all of its emotions. This is when my curiosity turns into a familiarity, as in I recognize your joy, I recognize your pain.

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4 thoughts on “A Curiosity: When Our Paths Cross”

This is a great post!
I love sitting in a cafe on my own and watch people coming in and out.
Some come with another person. Some are alone.
I always wonder about their profession, relationship and how they see different things.
Like, how would they comment on my blog.
It’s a nice moment of becoming relaxed for me.

Andrea, I just visited your site for the first time. Your writing is absolutely beautiful! It carries me away to another place. I think I’m ready to read your book. If you’re not writing one, you had better start!